Stop-motion for circular-knitting machines.



H. GARANT. STOP MOTION FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED KAY 2'7, 1908.

Patented Jan.5,1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES:

INV TOR MM By ATTORNEYS rm: NORRIS PETERS cu, vmsmqanm, n.,c.

H. GARANT; STOP MOTION FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MAGIIINES. APPLICATIONFILED MAY 27, 1908.

908,989. Patented Jan. 5, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ATTORNEYS TH! NORRIS PETERS co" WASHINGTON, a. c

UNITED sTAtrns PATENT OFFICE.

' HENRY GARANl, OF OHATTANOQGA, TENNESSEE, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TOWALTER B.

DAVIS, OF CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 5', 1909.

Application filed Kay 27, 1908. Serial No. 435,235.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY GAnANT, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city of Chattanooga, county of Hamilton, State ofTennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inStop-Motions for Circular-Knitting Machines, of which the following is aspecification, reference being One of the main objects of this inventionisto provide means for automatically stopping the knitting machine whenany unduestrain is brought on the needle cylinder.

A further object of the invention isto so mount the needle cylinder thatit may have a slight rotary movement with the cam ring, when any unduestrain is brought upon the needles; and to provide means whereby aslight movement of the needle cylinder will automatically stop themachine.

Another object of the invention is to so mount the needle cylinder thatit will be capable of a slight movement under abnormal conditions, andto provide means whereby said movement of the needle cylinder will stothe machine.

l t is also an object of this invention to mount the needle cylinder sothat it is capable of a slight rotative movement under ab normalconditions; and to provide a tension device to hold the needle cylinderstationary under normal conditions; and to provide means whereby whenthe cylinder is moved the machine will'be stopped;

In the drawings I have illustrated only so much of the ordinary circularknitting machine as is necessary to show the application of myinvention. In these drawings 1 designates the rigid support or table ofthe machine; 2 the driving shaft carrying the driving pinion 3, the fastulley 4 and the'loose pulley 5. On the en of this shaft is the usualcrank 6 by which the machine may be hand-operated. The belt shifter 7 iscarried by a reciprocating bar 8 and is maintained in position to holdthe belt onthe fast pulley by the jointed links 9 and 10, one end of thelink 9 being connected to the end of the bar 8, and one end of the link10 being connected to a rock shaft 11-. A spring 12 is mounted on thebar 8 and tends to throw the belt shifter to the loose pulley '5. Whenthe links 9 and 1 0 are arranged as shown in Fig. 1, they hold the beltshifter on the fast pulley 4: against the tension of the s ring 12.Connected to the shaft 11 is a han le 13 by which said shaft may berocked to move the links 9 and 10 out ofalinement and to permit thespring to shift the belt.

The beveled gear 3 meshes with a similar gear 14- mounted in the support1 and carrying the cam ring and the needle operating mechanism. Securedto the support within the usual cam ring 15, shown in dotted lines inFig. 1, is the needle cylinder 16 which carries the needles 17, only oneof said needles being shown in Fig. 1 in order to simplify the drawings.As ordinarily constructed the needle cylinder is rigidly secured to thesupporting table, the cam ring being rotated with the other need-1eoperatin mechanism and the needles being 0 erate by the cam slot 18,shown in dotted ines' in Fig. 1. In carrying out my. invention theneedle- 0 linder is so mounted that under abnorma conditions it iscapable of a slight rotation with the cam ring. The table or support 1is slotted as shown at 19, in Fig. 2, at diametrically opposite points,said slots being on an arc struck from the center of the needlecylinder. Screwed into the cam ring and passing through said slots aretwo retaining studs 20, said: studs being shouldered as shown in dottedlines in: Fig. 1, to hold: the needle cylinder down to the su ort.

- e thread or arn 21 is run through the led before the needles of theneedle cylinder and of the needle dial 23 in the usual manner. As theseparts of the machine are a well known construction, I have not deemed itnecessary to fully illustrate them.

It is well known that in circular knitting machines of thisgeneraldesign theneedles are easily and freely operated b the cam ringwhen the thread or yarn is of a uniform diameter, the needles havingfirst been set to operate upon the desired uniform size of thread, butwhen the thread is larger in usual thread gui e 22 and is. by said guidediameter than the size for which the needles are set, the needlesoperate stiflly and there is considerable friction in the cam ring whichtends to drag the needle cylinder around with the needle operatingmechanism. 'When there is any considerable increase in the Slfl of theyarn or thread it is desirable to stop the knitting machine in order toremove the defective portion of the thread. I make use of this bindingof the needles in the cam ring under these abnormal conditions tooperate a stop motion and to this end I mount the needle cylinder sothat it is capable of a slight rotary movement with the cam ring underabnormal conditions, means being provided to hold it stationary undernormal working conditions. To accomplish this I connect to the lower endof one of the studs 20 one end of a link 21. The other end of this linkis pivotally connected to a horizontally swinging arm 22 near the pivotthereof, whereby a slight movement of the link 21 will give considerablemovement to the free end of said swinging arm. The free end of this armis arranged directly over and close to the upper edge of the link 9 nearthe point of connection between said link and the reciprocating bar 8 ofthe belt shifter. The links 9 and 10 incline upwardly from theconnection between the link 9 and the bar 8 to therock shaft 11, so thatwhen the arm 22 is moved horizontally it will engage the upper ed e ofthe link 9 and swing it downwardly,t1ereby moving the links 9 and 10 outof line and permitting the spring 12 to throw the belt shifter andthereby stop the machine.

The arm 22 is secured to the upper end of a pintle 24 which is mountedin an upright bearing 25 secured in the supporting frame of the machine.Surrounding the pintle 24 and between the arm 22 and the support 25 is acoil tension spring 26, the upper end of which is connected to the arm22 The lower end of this spring is secured in an opening 27 in a plate28 supported by the bearing 25 and surrounding the pintle 24. This plateis provided with an annular series of openings 29 which are adapted tobe brought into engagement with a pin 30 on the bearing 25. By rotatinthe plate 27 the proper tension may be laced upon the spring 26 and byen aging the pin 30 in the proper opening 29 t e required tension may bemaintained on said spring. The tension of this spring is in thedirection to oppose any movement of the needle cylinder an to hold thestuds 20 against the end walls of the slots 19. It will thus be seenthat the friction between the cam ring and the needles must besufficient to overcome the tension of the spring 26 before the needlecylinder is permitted to move with the cam ring, and that, therefore,the strain required the, stop ,motion may be varied. It is also clearthat the spring 26 constitutes an adjustable or variable means forholding the needle cylinder stationary.

From the foregoing it is manifest that should there be any undueenlargement of to move the needle cylinder and to operate the thread oryarn, as indicated at A in Fig. 1, the friction on the cam ring inforcing the needles to handle the thicker portion of the yarn Will besufficient to drag the needle cylinder with the cam ring to operate thebelt shifter. 'It is also manifest that the strain required to move theneedle cylinder may be varied by varying the tension. of the spring 26.

It is manifest that I provide a stop motion which may be adjusted to thedesired sensitiveness and that when so adjusted it will operateautomatically whenever any objectionable conditions exist to cause aslight movement of the needle cylinder.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A stop motion for a circular knitting machine comprising a needlecylinder, means for permitting said cylinder to have a slight rotativemovement, yielding means for holding said needle cylinder stationaryunder normal conditions, said means yielding and permitting the cylinderto move when abnormal friction is brought on the needles, and meansoperated through the movement of the cylinder to stop the machine.

2. A stop motion for a circular knitting machine comprising a movableneedle cylinder, means for holding said needle cylinder stationary undernormal conditions, means permitting said cylinder to be moved underabnormal conditions, and means operated throu h the movement of thecylinder to stop t e machine.

3. A stop motion for a knitting machine comprising a needle holdingmeans, means for normally holding said needle holding means stationary,means to permit said needle holding means to be moved under abnormalconditions, and means operated through the movement of the needlecarrying means to stop the machine.

' 1. A stop motion for a circular knitting machine comprising a needlecylinder, means for permitting movement of said needle cylinder, ayieldable means for holding said needle cylinder statlonary under normalconditions, said means permitting the cylinder to move under abnormalconditions, and means operated by the movement of the cylinder to stopthe machine.

5. A stop motion for a circular knitting machine comprising a cam ring,a needle cylinder, means for movably supporting said cylinder, means forpermitting said cylinder to have a slight rotary movement with the camring under abnormal conditions, and

means operated by the movement of the cylinder to stop the machine.

6. A stop motion for a circular knitting machine comprising a needlecylinder, means for mounting said cylinder to permit it to have a sli htrotary movement with the cam ring, a be t shifter, and means operated bythe movement of the cylinder to permit said belt shifter to stop themachine.

7. A stop motion for a circular knitting machine comprising a needlecylinder, means for permitting said cylinder to have a slight rotarymovement, a belt shifter normally tending to shift the o crating belt tothe loose ulley, means to ock said belt shifter to holil the belt on thefast pulley, and means operated through the movement of the needlecylinder to release the belt shifter and permit it to move the belt tothe loose ulley.

8. A stop motion for a circu ar knitting machine com rising a needlecylinder, means to permit sai cylinder to have a slight rotary movementunder abnormal conditions, a belt shifter normally tending to shift thebelt to the loose pulley, means for locking said belt shifter to holdthe belt on the fast pulley, a swinging arm adapted to release said beltshifter, means connecting said swinging arm to the needle cylinder, anda spring device to yieldingly hold said swinging arm and the needlecylinder against movement during the normal operation of the machine.

9. A stop motion for a circular knitting machine comprising a needlecylinder, means to permit said cylinder to have a slight rotary movementunder abnormal conditions, a belt shifter normally tending to shift thebelt to the loose pulley, means for locking saidbelt shifter to hold thebelt on the fast pulley, 1a e t swinging arm adapted to release saidshifter, means connecting said swinging arm to the needle cylinder, aspring device to yieldingly hold said swinging arm and the needlecylinder against movement during the normal operation of the machine,and means for adjusting said spring to vary its tension on said swingingarm.

10. A stop motion for a circular knitting machine comprising a needlecylinder capable of a slight rotative movement, yielding means forholding said needle cylinder stationary under normal working conditions,and means to stop the machine operated through the needle cylinder whenenlar ements in the thread or yarn are engaged iy the needles.

1].. A stop motion for a circular knitting machine comprising a needlecylinder, means for supporting said cylinder to permit it to have aslight rotative movement, a rotatable cam ring for o erating theneedles, yieldable means for ho ding the needle cylinder stationaryunder normal working conditions, said yieldable means permitting thecylinder to rotate with the cam ring when the friction between the camring and the needles is abnormal, and means operated by the move ment ofthe needle cylinder to stop the machine.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afI'iX my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses this 21 day of May 1908.

HENRY GARANT.

Witnesses:

J. L. HUGHES, J. H. WOOD.

